This invention relates to a wet shaving razor comprising a cartridge and an adjoining handle and includes a shaving blade with a cutting edge which is moved across the surface of the skin being shaved by means of the handle. A cartridge may be mounted detachably on a razor handle to enable the cartridge to be replaced by a fresh cartridge when the blade sharpness has diminished to an unsatisfactory level, or it may be fixedly attached to the handle with the intention that the entire razor be discarded when the blade or blades have become dulled. Detachable and replaceable cartridges are commonly referred to as shaving cartridges.
There have been various proposals for mounting a cartridge on a handle to enable movement of the cartridge during shaving with the aim of maintaining conformity of the skin contacting parts with the skin surface during shaving. For example, many razors currently marketed have cartridges which are pivotable about longitudinal axes extending parallel to the cutting edges of the elongate blades incorporated in the cartridges. Additionally, the Applicant has realized the utility of providing consumers with a conforming razor cartridge as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,024,776B2 and 7,131,203B2. The conforming razor cartridges disclosed in these two patents were injection molded and the blade unit was attached after molding by forcing metal anchors on a blade support of the blade unit through holes in the elastomeric cartridge. It was typical, however, with this configuration that the thin metal of the blade unit acted in a similar way to a knife blade and would cut the rubber or elastomer material that formed the cartridge if the hole for receiving the blade unit was not held open by a blunt, stretching device which itself required the hole to be stretched to allow for insertion of the blade unit. To accommodate for this manipulation, the patentee realized that it was ideal to employ an elastomeric material or rubber capable of relatively high elongation. Such highly elongatable and/or extensible materials typically exhibit high tear resistance as well but are usually relatively expensive. Another not so positive aspect of this previously disclosed conforming razor was the fact that the anchors and holes mentioned for blade unit insertion often detract from the comfort of the shave experienced by consumers.
Based on this previous development and others, there is still a need for a conforming razor product that overcomes these difficulties experienced during manufacturing as well as during shaving.